Hyderabad: The Telangana government has announced ex-gratia amount of Rs 3 lakhs for each farmer who died fighting against the farm laws which were repealed a day ago. Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao has also demanded the Centre to announce Rs 25 lakh as ex-gratia for the same and withdraw all cases registered against farmers.
In a press meet on Saturday, the chief minister spoke on a range of issues ranging from lack of clarity of the centre with regards to paddy procurement and to the significance of caste census.
“In spite of too many letters and travels to Delhi, there has been no response regarding the annual paddy procurement target and clarity in terms of whether farmers should produce paddy or not.” He said that he will be going to Delhi with a state delegation for two days and will meet bureaucrats and concerned ministers regarding this issue.
He congratulated the farmers for winning the fight against the central government. He said that they carried out a ‘spirited’ fight facing all odds and obstacles put in front of them by the Modi government.
“The fight they put up is extraordinary. We are in solidarity and recognize all the obstacles the farmers faced. The Centre cannot just escape by apologizing. We demand the Prime minister that all the criminal cases including UAPA booked against not only farmers but activists like Disha Ravi who has been unfairly targeted with sedition based on a tweet should be withdrawn.”
KCR then went on to speak about the situation in the parliament. He said that TRS demands an MSP (Minimum support price) law to be passed so that farmers don’t get cheated by middlemen for a fair price. The TRS supremo expressed his party’s opposition to the new electricity bills put forward in the parliament and said that this would prevent a free power supply to farmers. “This is again anti-farmer and we will fight for this in the parliament” he added.
KCR demanded the centre to immediately set up Krishna and Godavari river tribunals and clarify the quota of water that the state of Telangana would get. “It’s been seven years and nothing’s been done. We need water for our agriculture and industries. We will demand this again when we go to Delhi.” he said.
KCR then spoke about their demand of increasing quota for Dalits with respect to the increase in the percentage of population after bifurcation. He said that the Caste census clarifies this and it is extremely necessary. “Caste census is the need of the hour. The Centre says it’s sensitive and is putting it aside. I think it’s foolish to do that. Caste and Casteism are real. It’s important we recognize that.” he remarked.